Patents

Via The Independent: Companies are taking out a huge amount of patents related to reading brainwaves, according to analysis, with a range of different applications. Fewer than 400 neuro-technology related patents were…

Is there any excuse for pricing a sorely-needed drug that can cure a killer virus 1,000 times more in the U.S. than it will cost in India? From Techdirt‘s rather-exorbitant dept.: As Techdirt explained back in…

CNET reports on handcuffs that practically do the police’s work for them: A patent for next-generation handcuffs offers a future in which the detained can be zapped directly from their restraints, and…

Here’s a disconcerting thought: for the past thirty years, genes have been patentable. And we’re not just talking genetically modified corn — your genes, pretty much as they exist in your body, can and have been patented. The US government reports over three million gene patent applications have been filed so far; over 40,000 patents are held on sections of the human genome, covering roughly 20% of our genes.

Upset? You’re not alone. Critics argue that the patents stifle potential research into disease, keep new treatments off the market, and bring in serious money to Big Pharma — all by exercising property claims that shouldn’t exist. After all, genes aren’t inventions, which are patentable — they’re discoveries, which aren’t.

Singularity Hub recently interviewed Dr. David Koepsell … His book Who Owns You? is currently being adapted into a documentary film, including interviews with experts like James Watson and Tim Hubbard. Check out the preview: